Afleveringen
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I’ve heard from many of you that you’d like the whole of my conversation with Jonathan Gorard in a single podcast.
So here it is, the complete first interview.
These three hours are a brilliant exposition of Wolfram Physics from a figure whose contributions to the project are second to none.
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Jonathan Gorard
Jonathan Gorard at The Wolfram Physics ProjectJonathan Gorard on TwitterThe Centre for Applied CompositionalityThe Wolfram Physics ProjectJonathan’s seminal papers
Some Relativistic and Gravitational Properties of the Wolfram Model; also published in Complex SystemsSome Quantum Mechanical Properties of the Wolfram ModelStephen Wolfram’s writings
Announcement of the Wolfram Physics ProjectA New Kind of ScienceA project to find the Fundamental Theory of PhysicsA complete list of links to the research, concepts and people mentioned by Jonathan is here
Images
Calabi–Yau manifold by Andrew J. Hanson, Indiana University, who allows use with attributionFeynman diagram by Joel Holdsworth, public domainJohn von Neumann – Los Alamos National LaboratoryStanisław Ulam – Los Alamos National LaboratoryWolf-Rayet nebula – Nebula surrounding the Wolf-Rayet star WR124 in the constellation Sagittarius. (Produced with the Wide-Field Planetary Camera 2, Hubble Space Telescope.) – NASA – NSSDCA Photo Gallery – Yves Grosdidier (University of Montreal and Observatoire de Strasbourg), Anthony Moffat (Universitie de Montreal), Gilles Joncas (Universite Laval), Agnes Acker (Observatoire de Strasbourg) – Public domainStele from Retortillo by Emilio Gómez Fernández licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0Spinning and chargend black hole with accretion disk by Simon Tyran, Vienna (Симон Тыран) licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0Альфред Грэй в Греции by AlionaKo licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0Crab Nebula, as seen by Herschel and Hubble – courtesy: NASA/JPL-Caltech – credit: ESA/Herschel/PACS/MESS Key Programme Supernova Remnant Team; NASA, ESA and Allison Loll/Jeff Hester (Arizona State University) – reproduced under JPL Image Use PolicyFor images from the Los Alamos National Laboratory: Unless otherwise indicated, this information has been authored by an employee or employees of the Triad National Security, LLC, operator of the Los Alamos National Laboratory with the U.S. Department of Energy. The U.S. Government has rights to use, reproduce, and distribute this information. The public may copy and use this information without charge, provided that this Notice and any statement of authorship are reproduced on all copies. Neither the Government nor Triad makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any liability or responsibility for the use of this information.
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The Last Theory is hosted by Mark Jeffery, founder of Open Web Mind
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You like Stephen Wolfram, right?
I mean, if he’s to be believed, he has reinvented physics, not to mention philosophy.
How could you not like such a thinker?
Well... it turns out that there are plenty of people who don’t like Stephen Wolfram... or his physics... or his philosophy.
Here are four criticisms of Stephen Wolfram I regularly hear...
...and here’s why these criticisms, though they hint at uncomfortable truths, nonetheless miss the mark.
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Stephen Wolfram:
Stephen WolframStephen Wolfram’s web siteTimelineTED talksList of podcast appearancesList of video appearancesStephen Wolfram’s claims:
He has a path to the fundamental theory of physicsHe has an answer to the question: what is an observer?He has an answer to the question: what is consciousness?He has an answer to the question: why does the universe exist?He seems surprised at how little discussion there has been of his answer to the question: why does the universe exist?Some of the things Stephen Wolfram created:
1987 Wolfram Research1988 Mathematica2009 Wolfram Alpha2014 Wolfram Language2020 Wolfram PhysicsOther people involved in the Wolfram Physics Project:
Jonathan GorardMax PiskunovOther people mentioned in this episode:
Freeman Dyson – quoteSean Carroll – quote – Mindscape podcast – episode #155 with Stephen WolframKatie Mack – quoteAdam Mastroianni – The rise and fall of peer reviewFather Strickland – quoteBrilliant people of the past:
Leonardo da VinciGregor MendelNikola TeslaAristotleGalileo GalileiIsaac NewtonAlbert EinsteinMax BornPaul DiracWerner HeisenbergErwin SchrödingerWolfgang PauliOther episodes of The Last Theory mentioned:
Why has there been no progress in physics since 1973? – article ⋅ podcast ⋅ videoPeer review is suffocating science – article ⋅ podcast ⋅ videoReference:
Wolfram Research now has over 800 employeesImages:
Freeman Dyson 2005 by ioerror licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0—
The Last Theory is hosted by Mark Jeffery, founder of Open Web Mind
I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.The full article is here.
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Zijn er afleveringen die ontbreken?
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In this final excerpt from our conversation in October 2022, Jonathan Gorard explains how ideas from Wolfram Physics can be applied in fields beyond physics, including biology, chemistry and mathematics.
He describes the concept of compositionality, and digs deeper into why the hypergraph is able to model so much of our universe.
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Jonathan Gorard
Jonathan Gorard at The Wolfram Physics ProjectJonathan Gorard on TwitterThe Centre for Applied CompositionalityThe Wolfram Physics ProjectConcepts mentioned by Jonathan:
General RelativityQuantum MechanicsCausal graphsSpace-like separationMultiway systemPhase spaceSchrödinger equationHilbert spaceKronecker productMulticomputationCompositionalityApplied category theorySymmetric monoidal categoryPartial differential equationsZermelo–Fraenkel set theoryUniversal Turing machineComputational universalityCellular automatonOntologyPeople mentioned by Jonathan:
Rudolph CarnapVienna Circle—
The Last Theory is hosted by Mark Jeffery, founder of Open Web Mind
I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.
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You know who Stephen Wolfram is, right?
Whether you love him or, you know, don’t love him, there’s no denying that Stephen Wolfram has founded a host of fascinating projects... most of them named Wolfram-something-or-other.
What are all these Wolfram-branded projects?
Who is Stephen Wolfram?
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Some of the things Stephen Wolfram created:
1987 Wolfram Research1988 Mathematica2009 Wolfram Alpha2014 Wolfram Language2020 Wolfram Physicsnot to mention:
Wolfram CloudWolfram OneWolfram NotebooksWolfram PlayerWolfram ScriptWolfram EngineWolfram FoundationMore about Stephen Wolfram:
Stephen Wolfram’s web siteTimelineStephen Wolfram’s education:
University of OxfordCalifornia Institute of TechnologySome of Stephen Wolfram’s special subjects:
particle physicscellular automataSome of Stephen Wolfram’s books:
A New Kind Of ScienceA project to find the Fundamental Theory of PhysicsOther people involved in the Wolfram Physics Project:
Jonathan GorardMax PiskunovReference:
Wolfram Research now has over 800 employeesImage:
Animation. 1200 iterations of the ‘Rule 110’ Automata by Mr. Heretic licenced under CC BY-SA 3.0Some of my own projects:
things made thinkable – visualization of nuclides – tap the binding energy button bottom right to show the binding energy per nucleonOpen Web Mind – subscribe to the newsletter or YouTube channel for more on shared human intelligence—
The Last Theory is hosted by Mark Jeffery, founder of Open Web Mind
I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.The full article is here.
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I asked Jonathan Gorard the question I’m asked the most: can the Wolfram model make testable predictions about reality, predictions that differ from those of general relativity and quantum mechanics, predictions that might prove that Wolfram Physics is right?
Jonathan showed how the Wolfram model might shed light on some of the most mysterious phenomena of our universe, from black hole inspirals to quantum entanglement.
He focused on four areas where the class of theories encompassed by the Wolfram model might predict observable phenomena:
1. Cosmological consequences of global dimension change
2. Astrophysical consequences of local dimension change
3. Discretization effects during extreme astrophysical events
4. Quantum mechanical effects such as maximum entanglement speed
These dozen minutes of my conversation with Jonathan were dense with insights into Wolfram Physics, a true pleasure to revisit!
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Jonathan Gorard
Jonathan Gorard at The Wolfram Physics ProjectJonathan Gorard at Cardiff UniversityJonathan Gorard on TwitterThe Centre for Applied CompositionalityThe Wolfram Physics ProjectConcepts mentioned by Jonathan
Category errorCausally connectedCosmological inflationLambda-CDM cosmologyHorizon problemFlatness problemMagnetic monopole problemCosmic microwave backgroundCosmic neutrino backgroundInflaton scalar fieldhttps://lasttheory.com/channel/055-where-is-the-evidence-for-wolfram-physicsQuintessent scalar fieldDecoupling timeRecombination timeLensing effectsLIGO – Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave ObservatoryBlack hole inspiralCausal edge densityWeyl curvatureQuadrupole momentEntanglement structureBranchial graphQuantum information theoryMargolis Leviton boundPeople mentioned by Jonathan:
Alan GuthAndrei LindeStephen WolframXerxes ArsiwallaAbdus Salam—
The Last Theory is hosted by Mark Jeffery, founder of Open Web Mind
I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.
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The Open Web Mind is a protocol for shared human intelligence, based on the knowledge hypergraph.
Take a look at this quick introduction for subscribers to The Last Theory, then jump to the 2-minute trailer on the new channel.
And if you haven’t done so already, make sure to subscribe to the new Open Web Mind channel, podcast and newsletter.
If you’re interested in Wolfram Physics, I think you’ll find Open Web Mind fascinating!
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The Last Theory is hosted by Mark Jeffery founder of Open Web Mind
I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.
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How big are electrons compared to the hypergraph?
Is one electron formed of 10 nodes, or 10100 nodes?
And if it’s 10100 nodes, might it prove impossible to simulate an electron on any computer we can possibly imagine?
When I asked Jonathan Gorard this question, he took us on a tour of the scales of the universe, from the Planck scale to the Hubble scale.
He revealed how the Wolfram Physics Project’s early estimate of the scale of the hypergraph was based on a tower of rickety assumptions.
And he explained how the Wolfram model might connect with particle physics regardless of the disparities of scale.
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Jonathan Gorard
Jonathan Gorard at The Wolfram Physics ProjectJonathan Gorard at Cardiff UniversityJonathan Gorard on TwitterThe Centre for Applied CompositionalityThe Wolfram Physics ProjectConcepts mentioned by Jonathan
Planck scaleHubble scaleGeneral relativityFluid mechanicsQuantum mechanicsQuantum Field TheoryScattering amplitudes—
The Last Theory is hosted by Mark Jeffery, founder of the Open Web Mind
I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.
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What if you’re inside a universe, and you want to measure the curvature of space?
It’s important because getting a measure of the curvature of the hypergraph takes us one step further in Jonathan Gorard’s derivation of General Relativity from Wolfram Physics.
Einstein’s equations relate the curvature of space to the presence of matter. So if we’re going to prove that Einstein’s equations follow from the Wolfram model, we’re going to need that measure of the curvature of the hypergraph.
Once again, a two-dimensional crab comes to the rescue, given us a way to measure the curvature of a universe from inside that universe.
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See Stephen Wolfram’s announcement, under Curvature in Space & Einstein’s Equations, also included as the introduction to his book A project to find the Fundamental Theory of Physics, page 20, for more on measuring the curvature of space
Concepts:
Cosine power series expansionPolynomial regression analysisRicci scalar curvature—
The Last Theory is hosted by Mark Jeffery, founder of the Open Web Mind
I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.The full article is here.
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In this excerpt from my conversation with Jonathan Gorard, he proposes that particles in Wolfram Physics might be persistent topological obstructions in the hypergraph.
He starts with a toy model in which elementary particles are non-planar tangles moving and interacting in an otherwise planar hypergraph.
But he doesn’t stop there.
He explains that there’s an infinite variety of hypergraphs that give rise to such persistent topological obstructions.
These localized tangles behave in ways that look a lot like particle physics.
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Jonathan Gorard
Jonathan Gorard at The Wolfram Physics ProjectJonathan Gorard at Cardiff UniversityJonathan Gorard on TwitterThe Centre for Applied CompositionalityThe Wolfram Physics ProjectConcepts mentioned by Jonathan
Utility graphKuratowski’s theoremWagner’s theoremComplete graphs – including K_5Complete bipartite graphs – including K_3,3Robertson-Seymour TheoremGraph minorForbidden minor characterizationImage:
Feynman diagram Feynmann Diagram Gluon Radiation by Joel Holdsworth, public domain—
The Last Theory is hosted by Mark Jeffery, founder of the Open Web Mind
I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.
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What if you’re inside a universe, and you want to know whether space is curved?
The reason I’m asking is that according to Einstein’s general theory of relativity, our universe is curved, by the presence of matter.
If Wolfram Physics is to be a true model of our universe, then the space represented by the hypergraph must also be curved by the presence of matter.
Which means that determining whether space is curved is crucial to Jonathan Gorard’s derivation of Einstein’s equations from the Wolfram model.
Fortunately, there’s a way to find out that’s so simple that even a crab or a space frog could do it.
Here’s how to tell if your universe curved.
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Dimensionality:
How to measure the dimensionality of the universeAre Wolfram’s graphs three‑dimensional?What are dimensions in Wolfram’s universe?Space-time:
Space‑time is deadEuclidean geometry:
Euclidparallel lines never meet—
The Last Theory is hosted by Mark Jeffery, founder of the Open Web Mind
I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.
The full article is here.
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I asked Jonathan Gorard what it felt like when he realized that general relativity can be derived from the hypergraph.
His answer took us in an unexpected direction.
If the Wolfram model is to be an accurate model of our universe, then it must give us the Einstein equations.
But what if any old model with any old rules can give us the Einstein equations?
What if general relativity isn’t so special?
This is one of the shorter excerpts from my conversation with Jonathan, but it’s a fascinating one.
It takes us to one of the most powerful aspects of the Wolfram model: its ability to answer questions about why our universe is the way it is, questions that were once in the realm of philosophy but may now be within the scope of physics.
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Jonathan Gorard
Jonathan Gorard at The Wolfram Physics ProjectJonathan Gorard at Cardiff UniversityJonathan Gorard on TwitterThe Centre for Applied CompositionalityThe Wolfram Physics ProjectConcepts mentioned by Jonathan
Einstein field equationsRiemannian manifoldEinstein–Hilbert actionCausal invarianceErgodicity—
The Last Theory is hosted by Mark Jeffery, founder of the Open Web Mind
I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.
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In my exploration of Wolfram Physics, I’ve come across one objection more than any other.
Over and over again, people have told me that the Wolfram model must be rejected because it makes no predictions.
I could respond by saying that Wolfram Physics does make predictions. It predicts Einstein’s equations. It predicts Schrödinger’s equation.
But it’s true that it doesn’t make any predictions that differ from those of general relativity and quantum mechanics. At least, not yet.
So here’s my more robust response to the objection: all scientific theories make no predictions when they’re first formulated.
If we dismiss any new theory solely because it doesn’t make any predictions, then we’d dismiss all new theories.
It’s time for academics to learn the lessons of the history of science, and open their minds to bold, new ideas, like Wolfram Physics.
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Ideas:
Tycho BraheThe paths of the planets are elliptical according to Johannes KeplerPhilosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica by Isaac NewtonAstronomers’ test of Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativityAgainst Method by Paul FeyerabendThe Newtonian Casino by Thomas BassAncient astronomies:
Egyptian astronomyBabylonian astronomyInca astronomyImages:
Paul Feyerabend Berkeley by Grazia Borrini-Feyerabend reproduced with permission—
The Last Theory is hosted by Mark Jeffery, founder of the Open Web Mind
I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.The full article is here.
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Here’s a masterclass from Jonathan Gorard.
One of the most compelling results to come out of the Wolfram Physics is Jonathan’s derivation of the Einstein equations from the hypergraph.
Whenever I hear anyone criticize the Wolfram model for bearing no relation to reality, I tell them this: Jonathan Gorard has proved that general relativity can be derived from the hypergraph.
In this excerpt from our conversation, Jonathan describes how making just three reasonable assumptions – causal invariance, asymptotic dimension preservation and weak ergodicity – allowed him to derive the vacuum Einstein equations from the Wolfram model.
In other words, the structure of space-time in the absence of matter more or less falls out of the hypergraph.
And making one further assumption – that particles can be treated as localized topological obstructions – allowed Jonathan to derive the non-vacuum Einstein equations from the Wolfram model.
In other words, the structure of space-time in the presence of matter, too, falls out of the hypergraph.
It’s difficult to overstate the importance of this result.
At the very least, we can say that the Wolfram model is consistent with general relativity.
To state it more strongly: we no longer need to take general relativity as a given; instead, we can derive it from Wolfram Physics.
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Some Relativistic and Gravitational Properties of the Wolfram Model; also published in Complex Systems
Jonathan’s seminal paper on how to derive general relativityJonathan Gorard
Jonathan Gorard at The Wolfram Physics ProjectJonathan Gorard at Cardiff UniversityJonathan Gorard on TwitterThe Centre for Applied CompositionalityThe Wolfram Physics ProjectPeople mentioned by Jonathan
Alfred GrayResearch mentioned by Jonathan
The volume of a small geodesic ball of a Riemannian manifold by Alfred GrayTubes by Alfred GrayConcepts mentioned by Jonathan
Hausdorff dimensionGeodesic balls, tubes & conesRicci scalar curvatureRicci curvature tensorEinstein equationsEinstein–Hilbert actionRelativistic Lagrangian densityCausal graphTensor rankTraceFrom A Project to find the Fundamental Theory of Physics by Stephen Wolfram:
DimensionCurvatureImages
Spinning and chargend black hole with accretion disk by Simon Tyran, Vienna (Симон Тыран) licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0Альфред Грэй в Греции by AlionaKo licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0—
The Last Theory is hosted by Mark Jeffery, founder of the Open Web Mind
I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.
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Here’s the first of two crucial excerpts from my conversation with Jonathan Gorard.
The core idea of Wolfram Physics is that we can model the universe as a hypergraph. If we want this idea to be taken seriously, we’re going to have to derive physics from the hypergraph.
The twin pillars of physics, as we know it, are quantum mechanics and general relativity.
In this episode, Jonathan explains how quantum mechanics can be derived from the Wolfram model, indeed, how quantum mechanics unexpectedly fell out of the model.
It’s a fascinating story.
We start with the role of the observer. According to Jonathan, it turns out not to be necessary to narrow our focus to only causally invariant rules.
Why not? Because macroscopic observers like ourselves impose causal invariance through our coarse-graining of the hypergraph. In other words, by squinting at the universe, seeing only its large-scale features and glossing over the finer details, we reduce multiple paths through the multiway graph to a single timeline, and, in the process, impose causal invariance.
Jonathan goes on to explain that this coarse-graining can be modelled with completion rules. These are fake rules, similar to the true rules of Wolfram Physics, but posited solely to model the coarse-graining of the hypergraph by the observer.
And here’s the thing. According to Jonathan, these completion rules are formally equivalent to the collapse of the wavefunction in quantum mechanics. In other words, we finally have an explanation for how the observer causes the collapse of the wavefunction, reducing Schrödinger’s half live, half dead cat to one that’s either dead or alive.
If Jonathan’s right, then this is a true breakthrough, not just in quantum mechanics, but in the philosophy of physics.
In the next episode, we’ll move on to the other pillar of physics: Jonathan will explain how to derive general relativity from the hypergraph.
There’s much more to explain about each of these derivations, but we’re finally getting to the crux of Wolfram Physics, the question of whether it can, after all, model our universe.
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Some Quantum Mechanical Properties of the Wolfram Model
Jonathan’s seminal paper on how to derive quantum mechanicsJonathan Gorard
Jonathan Gorard at The Wolfram Physics ProjectJonathan Gorard at Cardiff UniversityJonathan Gorard on TwitterThe Centre for Applied CompositionalityThe Wolfram Physics ProjectConcepts mentioned by Jonathan
Causal invarianceComputational irreducibilityCelestial mechanicsMolecular dynamicsSpace-like separationHeisenberg’s uncertainty principleHeisenberg’s microscope experimentQuantum entanglementBell’s inequalitiesMultiway systemCoarse-grainingSchrödinger equationUnitary operatorHermitian operatorConjugate transpose operationTime reversalWavefunction collapseQuantum interferenceQuantum tunnellingStephen Wolfram’s books
A New Kind of ScienceA project to find the Fundamental Theory of Physics—
The Last Theory is hosted by Mark Jeffery, founder of the Open Web Mind
I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here
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You know peer review, right?
It’s the way academics check each other’s research papers.
It ensures that only the good ones are published and prevents the bad ones from getting through.
Right?
Wrong.
Peer review does precisely the opposite of what you think it does.
It prevents the good papers from being published, and ensures that only the bad ones get through.
Peer review is suffocating science.
If we want to reverse the stagnation of science over the last 50 years, then we’ve got to get rid of peer review.
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I highly recommend you read Adam Mastroianni’s splendid article The rise and fall of peer review
I first heard Adam’s ideas about peer review in his conversation Adam Mastroianni on Peer Review and the Academic Kitchen with Russ Roberts on EconTalk
articleaudiovideo
Why has there been no progress in physics since 1973?Scientific papers:
The journal Nature began to require peer review in 1973Millions of academic articles are published every yearSome scientists simply make stuff upFraudulent studies make it into respectable journals like Science, Nature and The LancetPhysicists:
Isaac NewtonAlbert Einstein’s four papers published in 1905Max Planck’s principle that science progresses one funeral at a timeThe Wolfram Physics Project:
Stephen WolframJonathan GorardMy projects:
The Last TheoryOpen Web MindImage of Adam Mastroianni by permission from Adam Mastroianni
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The Last Theory is hosted by Mark Jeffery, founder of the Open Web Mind
I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here
The full article is here
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“Sorry, this is now getting very metaphysical,” says Jonathan Gorard part way through this excerpt from our conversation.
We start by talking about applying more than one rule to the hypergraph to create rulial multiway systems.
This takes us part way towards applying every possible rule, in other words, towards the ruliad.
We move on to the idea of measuring the complexity of a structure in terms of the minimum amount of information needed to express it.
Jonathan applies this idea to the ruliad, pointing out that it takes almost no information to express, since it encompasses all possible rules.
Since he believes, however, that there is some content to the universe – that it is not a tautalogy – this leads Jonathan to reject the idea of the ruliad.
We dig into why he has this intuition is that the universe is not a tautalogy.
Jonathan invokes theologians like John Duns Scotus, who promulgated the idea the the world is neither completely reducible nor completely irreducible.
He follows the scholastics in steering a middle path, suggesting that there’s enough content in the universe that it’s interesting, but not so much content that we can’t write down well-defined laws of nature.
This brings us, for the first time, to the role of the observer in the Wolfram model.
Again, Jonathan steers a middle path between placing the computational burden entirely on the universe and placing the computational burden entirely on the observer.
I find this 9-minute exposition fascinating. It gets to the heart of some of the philosophical differences between Jonathan Gorard and Stephen Wolfram, and to the nature of the universe and our role as observers.
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Jonathan Gorard at The Wolfram Physics ProjectJonathan Gorard at Cardiff UniversityJonathan Gorard on TwitterThe Centre for Applied CompositionalityThe Wolfram Physics Project
Jonathan GorardPeople mentioned by Jonathan
John Duns ScotusXerxes D. ArsiwallaHatem ElshatlawyResearch mentioned by Jonathan
Homotopies in Multiway (Non-Deterministic) Rewriting Systems as n-Fold Categories by Xerxes D. Arsiwalla, Jonathan Gorard, Hatem ElshatlawyPregeometric Spaces from Wolfram Model Rewriting Systems as Homotopy Types by Xerxes D. Arsiwalla, Jonathan GorardConcepts mentioned by Jonathan
Rulial Multiway System∞-category∞-groupoid(∞,1)-toposGrothendieck’s homotopy hypothesisAlgorithmic complexity theoryAlgorithmic information theoryKolmogorov complexityEinstein field equationsCurvature invariantQualia—
The Last Theory is hosted by Mark Jeffery, founder of the Open Web Mind
I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.
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It’s pretty easy to see how three-dimensional space might arise from Wolfram Physics.
The hypergraph kinda looks like space, and, for some rules, it kinda looks like it’s three-dimensional.
But our universe isn’t just empty three-dimensional space.
It’s mostly empty space, but there are also particles moving through that space: photons, neutrinos, electrons, quarks.
Sometimes, these particles interact, annihilating each other and producing new particles.
If Wolfram Physics is to be a successful model of our universe, it must, of course, model these elementary particles and their interactions.
So where are the particles in the hypergraph?
What is a particle in Wolfram’s universe?
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Animations:
Thanks to Alan Dewar for permission to use his excellent implementation of Conway’s Game of Life for many of the animations in the videoThanks also to Chris Rowett for permission to use his Life Viewer, a beautiful implementation of Conway’s Game of Life, which I used for the greyship animation in the video and image in the thumbnailAnother implementation of Conway’s Game of Life, which reproduces the Life Lexicon from ConwayLife.com, is at playgameoflife.comSources:
Talking of ConwayLife.com, that’s another incredible resource for information on Conway’s Game of LifeTools:
I created an RLE to text converter to convert Run Length Encoded patterns to plain text formatImages:
John H Conway 2005 by Thane Plambeck licensed under CC BY 2.0Sounds:
Crickets choir by Serg Childed licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0—
The Last Theory is hosted by Mark Jeffery, founder of the Open Web Mind
I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.
The full article is here.
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In the early days of the Wolfram Physics Project, Stephen Wolfram seemed to be seeking a single rule that, when applied to the hypergraph, could generate our universe.
More recently, however, Wolfram has promoted the idea of the ruliad, the application of every possible rule to the hypergraph.
So I asked Jonathan Gorard, who was instrumental in the founding of the Wolfram Physics Project, whether all rules might be applied to generate our universe, or whether he was searching for one rule to rule them all.
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Stephen Wolfram’s 2010 TED talk in which he said he was committed “to see if within this decade we can finally hold in our hands the rule for our universe”.
Jonathan Gorard
Jonathan Gorard at The Wolfram Physics ProjectJonathan Gorard at Cardiff UniversityJonathan Gorard on TwitterThe Centre for Applied CompositionalityThe Wolfram Physics ProjectConcepts mentioned by Jonathan
Equivalence classCongruence classLagrangian mechanicsHamiltonian mechanicsTeleologyOntologyAxiomatic view of mathematics – top-downConstructivist view of mathematics – bottom-upDomain of discourseIntuitionismAlgorithmic information theory—
The Last Theory is hosted by Mark Jeffery, founder of the Open Web Mind
I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.
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John von Neumann might be the most important figure in Wolfram Physics prehistory.
Whenever any of the most important prerequisites to Wolfram Physics were happening – quantum mechanics, Gödel’s theorem, Turing machines, electronic computers, cellular automata – John von Neumann always seemed to be there.
How did John von Neumann always come to be in the right place at the right time to contribute to some of the most significant developments in physics, mathematics and computation history?
For this, another high-budget, big-hair episode of The Last Theory, I flew all the way to Budapest, where John von Neumann was born, to point to a plaque and get some answers.
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Buy it in the USBuy it in the UKBuy it in CanadaBuy it in Australia
I took inspiration and information for this episode from Ananyo Bhattacharya’s biography of John von Neumann: The Man from the FuturePeople
John von NeumannAlbert EinsteinErwin SchrödingerWerner HeisenbergKurt GödelAlan TuringSeth NeddermeyerJ. Presper EckertJohn MauchlyStephen WolframJonathan GorardMax PiskunovStanisław UlamFather StricklandConcepts
Hilbert spaceGödel’s incompleteness theoremsUniversal Turing machineTuring’s proofVon Neumann architectureThe Manhattan ProjectCellular automataComputers
IAS machineENIACEDVACIBM 701Images
Image of John von Neumann from the Los Alamos National Laboratory, which rather pointlessly requires that this rather ponderous statement be reproduced here: “Unless otherwise indicated, this information has been authored by an employee or employees of the Los Alamos National Security, LLC (LANS), operator of the Los Alamos National Laboratory under Contract No. DE-AC52-06NA25396 with the U.S. Department of Energy. The U.S. Government has rights to use, reproduce, and distribute this information. The public may copy and use this information without charge, provided that this Notice and any statement of authorship are reproduced on all copies. Neither the Government nor LANS makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any liability or responsibility for the use of this information.”Turing Machine Model Davey 2012 by Rocky Acosta licensed under CC BY 3.0Animation. 1200 iterations of the ‘Rule 110’ Automata by Mr. Heretic licenced under CC BY-SA 3.0Bundesarchiv Bild183-R57262, Werner Heisenberg by an unknown author (Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-R57262) licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 DETuring in 1935 by Tomipelegrin licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0Gospers glider gun by Lucas Vieira licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0—
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I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.
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The Wolfram model allows an infinite number of rules.
Some of these rules generate interesting universes that are complex and connected, some of these rules generate plausible universes that look a little like our own, and others... go nowhere.
In this excerpt from my conversation with Jonathan Gorard, I ask him how to find rules of Wolfram Physics that are both interesting and plausible.
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Jonathan Gorard at The Wolfram Physics ProjectJonathan Gorard at Cardiff UniversityJonathan Gorard on TwitterThe Centre for Applied CompositionalityThe Wolfram Physics Project
Jonathan GorardThe paper referred to by Jonathan
Algorithmic Causal Sets and the Wolfram Model by Jonathan GorardConcepts mentioned by Jonathan
Causal invarianceManifoldCausal graphSpace-like separationCausal coneDimensionalityCurvatureDiscrete differential operatorsDiscrete Laplacian—
I release The Last Theory as a video too! Watch here.Kootenay Village Ventures Inc.
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